About James
James Votaw is a licensed mental health counselor (LMHC) based in Massachusetts. He holds a Master of Arts in clinical mental health counseling and brings 18 years of clinical experience to his work. He speaks English and Japanese and aims to create a calm, open space where people can talk about what feels heavy or stuck.
Votaw begins by listening closely to each person’s story and perspective. He focuses on clear, practical steps to reduce anxiety, manage stress, and tackle unhelpful thinking and behaviors.
Background and approach
Sessions are conversational and goal-focused, with an emphasis on realistic changes a person can use between meetings. He uses tools from client-centered therapy to build a respectful working relationship. Cognitive Behavioral Therapy techniques are used to identify thinking patterns and try different behaviors.
Votaw also draws on mindfulness and motivational approaches to help people stay grounded and take meaningful steps toward their goals. Having worked in outpatient settings and as an emergency room crisis clinician, he has experience with urgent stress reactions and ongoing mood concerns. That background informs a steady, practical style in sessions.
He supports people facing anxiety, depression, grief, addiction concerns, obsessive patterns, relationship strain, sleep troubles, and difficulties adjusting to life changes. People who do best with him tend to want clear options and concrete tools, along with a therapist who listens first and then guides practical work.
He helps clients explore control issues, guilt and shame, immigration concerns, phobias, and post-traumatic stress in straightforward, manageable steps.
Therapeutic approaches and online options
Client-centered therapy focuses on listening and building a respectful relationship so the person feels understood and can explore concerns at their own pace. This approach helps when someone needs a calm space to sort feelings and decide what changes matter most.Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, or CBT, looks at how thoughts and behaviors interact. It involves identifying unhelpful thinking, trying small behavior changes, and practicing new skills to reduce anxiety, manage mood, and improve sleep or daily functioning.
Mindfulness techniques help people tune into the present moment and reduce reactivity to anxious or upsetting thoughts. They are useful alongside other strategies for managing stress and cravings or improving emotional regulation.
Finding the right approach is part of the work. The therapist will collaborate with each person to decide which methods fit their goals and preferences, and then adjust plans as progress is made.
Online therapy offers several practical formats: video calls for more face-to-face work, phone sessions when bandwidth or movement is easier, live chat for focused check-ins, and text messaging for quick reflections between sessions. These options make it simpler to fit therapy into a busy life and to try different formats to see what works best.
Questions people ask
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What this therapist works with
Most often
Also listed
- Addictions
- Anger management
- Career difficulties
- Control issues
- Coping with life changes
- Family conflicts
- Grief
- Guilt and shame
- Immigration issues
- Men's issues
- Obsessions, compulsions, and OCD
- Phobias
- Post-traumatic stress
- Relationship issues
- Sleeping disorders
- Social anxiety and phobia
- Trauma and abuse
Therapeutic approaches
- Experience
- 18 years
- Licensed
- Massachusetts
- Languages
- English, Japanese
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